Help with hair
Hair is one of the most sensitive areas on the body, and at the same time one of the few where someone else has to help. That combination charges the morning even when everyone means well. The pictures below show how many steps remain and when it is finished.
♀Help with hair
An adult hand combs a girl's long hair with a yellow comb.
♀Help with hair
An adult hand brushes the hair of a seated girl with a green brush.
About this visual support
Touching hair lands close to two things at once: pain and personal boundaries. A comb that catches pulls at the scalp, and the person holding it stands behind, out of view, so every tug arrives without warning. For children with clear sensory sensitivity the memory of yesterday's tangles is often enough to charge the whole moment.
Visual support makes the help measurable. Three pictures, wet it, brush from the bottom, tie it up, show that there is an end and where it is. Being able to count down the steps makes the discomfort easier to sit with, because how long it will last is no longer undefined.
A concrete tip is to always start from the bottom and hold the hair above the tangle. The pull then stays in the hand instead of in the scalp. In Routined the hair step can sit as its own item in the morning routine, and the app can be tried for fourteen days at no cost.
Use this image in a schedule
Build your own visual schedule with this image and download it as a print-ready PDF. Completely free.
More similar visual supports
Braid your hair
Smiling person with a braid in their hair
Hair tie
A purple hair tie.
Put up your hair
A girl reaches up with both hands and ties her hair into a bun.
Blow-dry hair
Person blow-drying their hair with a hairdryer
Body and hair
A boy in a blue T-shirt points one hand at his hair and the other at his body.
Braid hair
Two hands braid the hair of a smiling girl wearing a pink shirt.
Brush hair and apply sunscreen
A girl brushes her long hair while holding an SPF spray.
Brush Teeth and Hair
A girl brushes her teeth while holding a comb to her hair.
Take the visual supports with you
In Routined you build schedules from these pictures, add timers and voice instructions, and your child follows the day on their own.
* 14-day free trial included for new users.